INTERNATIONAL: And…A terrestrial work of art is to be launched to the moon by the end of the year, United Arab Emirates-based British artist Sacha Jafri has announced on Wednesday,February 23.

Sacha Jafri is a contemporary British artist known for creating the world's largest painting on canvas, Journey of Humanity, as recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records over seven months during the Covid-19 pandemic in Dubai.

His new piece, entitled “We Rise together – with the light of the moon” is a square, golden plaque with two intertwined figures lasered onto its surface.

British artist Sacha Jafri says, he wanted to create an artwork that would reconnect humanity, or that would help us reconnect.

The lunar art piece revealed at Dubai’s EXPO 2020 - went through months of testing to ensure the piece can withstand the extreme temperatures of the moon.

Spacebit, a company developing technology for space, predicts that using space grade aluminium gold plate as a canvas would enable the piece to last eternally on the Moon, and withstand temperatures as extreme as -173 degrees Celsius and +123 degrees Celsius.

Organisers has added that the landing site where Jafri’s artwork is to be placed will become a world heritage landmark.

Jafri has said the ethics of sending something to the moon were addressed.

“How can it relate to our planet or to sustainability, or to the sustainability of space, how does it affect the environment, the atmosphere? All of these things. And it goes through six months of stringent tests. It's so tight and stringent that NASA don’t just allow anything to go on a moon land or a rocket. It has to go through all these tests,” Jafri has said.

Along with the various stages of the mission, a series of NFTs created by the artist will be sold in an effort to raise money for charity.

An artwork he created sold for $62 million in Dubai, the second most expensive painting sold at auction by a living artist. The painting, "The Journey of Humanity", holds the Guinness World Record for the largest art canvas.